This is NOT normal

In a few short hours, bond notes are going to be on the streets. After months of citizens campaigning against their introduction. After pleas for the Reserve Bank and the government to try anything, ANYTHING, other than both notes. After the people of Zimbabwe have gone blue in the face saying that under no circumstances do we want bond notes. Yes, despite all this, our calls went unheeded. Bond notes shall reign supreme at our expense.

The amount of propaganda hailing the benefits of bond notes is beyond nauseating. Not only is it an insult to our collective intelligence, its aim essentially is to normalise the reality of bond notes and all that comes with it. The billboards, the news adverts, the radio shows: they’re ultimately selling the message that this is the new normal, and that we have no choice but to accept it.

But, this is not normal.

It is not normal to have a currency that is not recognised outside the country’s borders.

It is not normal for our pleas and frustrations to go unnoticed.

It is not normal to hoard food and fuel and foreign currency in anticipation for the worst.

It is not normal to sleep in queues just so you can withdraw $25, if you’re lucky.

It is not normal to stress and worry about hyperinflation and your hard-earned money losing value.

And we shouldn’t be conditioned into accepting it as normal. No amount of adverts, veiled threats or press releases can negate the reality of what these bond notes symbolise: the failure of our economic system, and leaders who do not listen or seem to care about what their citizens want.

It is very easy to accept this as normal. It makes daily life life a little less maddening, a little easier to cope with the stresses of living in Zimbabwe. But it is is a false sense of security, because there is nothing normal about anything in 2016 Zimbabwe. Don’t let anyone try and convince you otherwise.